


Best Friend Challenge

by thatnerdemryn



Series: Tumblr Prompts [52]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Cosplay, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Tik Tok, Video & Computer Games, im not sorry at all, thats just where im at right now, this entire fic is based off of tok tok challenges
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23561560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/pseuds/thatnerdemryn
Summary: Jace and Simon's friendship grew with every ludicrous video; every dumb dance move Jace and Izzy attempted to teach Simon, every prank they would pull, none of them knowing who the victim was as it was ever changing, every song Simon sung on his guitar, serenading Jace at the most inopportune times. Jace stopped caring if his time with Simon was for another video, just enjoying every moment he had with him.And Jace would deny it if you asked him if he was in love with Simon. Hewasn't.
Relationships: Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland
Series: Tumblr Prompts [52]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1359466
Comments: 16
Kudos: 145
Collections: Shadowhunters Fic-A-Thon 2020





	Best Friend Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> "This will be under 1k," the author told herself. "Just a quick crack fic," the author said nervously after she hit 2k. "Fuck it," the author swore as she hit 3k. 
> 
> These are all based on Tik Toks. I have no regrets and all of the regrets. Enjoy!
> 
> This fic was translated into Russian! Read it [HERE](https://ficbook.net/readfic/9301888)!!

If Jace was asked a few years prior to his senior year in college what he thought of Simon Lewis, his answer would have been filled with petty insults and incessant eye rolls. Izzy had met Simon through a stupid app that wasn’t even meant for dating. They both made these ridiculous videos separately; Izzy’s filled with outfit changes and makeup tutorials while Simon’s were filled with singing in strange places and serenading people in drive thru windows. Jace couldn’t begin to understand the entire concept behind their videos, but pretty soon, they were popular. After that, everyone requested them to do videos together and as they attended the same college, they didn’t have a choice but to ‘let the people have what they want’, or so Simon said. 

The two were an immediate annoyance to Jace, always trying to get him involved somehow. He figured it was because they  _ liked _ annoying him, but he found himself not caring as much as he expected and he eventually caved. He agreed to record them at first, finding a small amount of joy in watching his sister and Simon do ridiculous dances and each other’s makeup. His feelings started to change the minute Simon had the idea to cosplay. Jace had only seen Star Wars because of Simon and he’d been smacked pretty aggressively when he said he liked Kylo Ren. He wanted to say no strictly in retaliation, but Simon was begging, so he didn’t really have another choice. 

“Jace, please? Izzy is out tonight and I just finished this stupid leather contraption and I’m due for another video tonight!” Simon begged as he held his phone out to Jace. Jace rolled his eyes and tilted his head back before sighing and grabbing the phone from his hand. “Thank you!” Simon called as he stood a bit further back, dressed in a plain grey shirt and black jeans. It wasn’t unlike his usual wardrobe, so Jace waited a moment. 

“Are you just gonna stand there or…” Jace trailed off as Simon rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

“It’s part of the magic, Jace. Just record me for a few seconds like this and stop when I jump.” Jace nodded in agreement and counted down before recording. Simon started with his back to Jace and he found it hard to not check out Simon’s ass in his jeans, which was incredibly surprising to him. He walked so he was centered in the camera and jumped, Jace’s cue to stop. He looked over the phone and furrowed his eyebrows. 

“That it? Am I done?” Simon groaned at him and gestured toward the clothes on the bed. 

“This is a  _ process _ . I just have to put this on and we can do the next part,” Simon excitedly said as he ran toward the bed. Jace couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Simon tug on the dark jacket and glove. He gulped, hoping Simon couldn’t hear the sound, when he strapped the brown leather holster around his waist and thigh. 

“Kylo Ren?” Jace asked in disbelief. He smacked Simon’s shoulder after he grabbed the lightsaber from the side of the bed. “You gave me so much shit for liking him!” Jace accused. 

Simon laughed and shrugged. “The people want what they want. And they want me as Kylo.” Simon walked to the same spot as before, this time facing Jace with his hands to the side. “Start when I jump up and stop when the lightsaber is behind my head, got it?” Jace rolled his eyes again and shook his head. 

“This is so dumb, Simon. Do people really watch this stuff?” Jace asked as Simon planted his feet more solidly on the floor. Simon smirked at him and raised his eyebrows. 

“I bet you I’ll get over 50,000 likes on this video,” Simon challenged. Jace nodded in acceptance and waited for Simon to jump. He took a deep breath before his feet left the floor and Jace started recording. Simon twirled the lightsaber in his fingers before pointing it over his shoulder. He stood frozen even as Jace stopped the recording and Jace tilted his head in question. 

“Are you gonna…?” Before he could finish, Simon pointed to the light switch with his unoccupied hand. 

“Turn off the lights for this next part,” Simon said with a growing smile. Jace walked to the lights with a huff, but shut them off and wandered back to his spot in front of Simon. He wasn’t expecting the breath to be knocked out of him when the lightsaber glowed behind his head, illuminating a few of his perfect features. “Tell me when you’re gonna record,” Simon muttered, incredibly focused on keeping his body still. Jace gave himself a moment to take in the way the jacket left a sliver of grey shirt showing and how it seemed to mold to the abs Jace didn’t notice Simon had. His eyes locked on the thigh holster and let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. That was a new feeling Jace didn’t have time to unpack, so he cleared his throat. 

“Okay,” Jace said as he pressed record. Simon smirked at the camera, at Jace, and his heart might have stopped as he swiveled his hips and brought the lightsaber back in front of him, holding it with both hands as he looked down at the ground. 

“Yes!” Simon cheered as he ran at Jace. Jace had to shake his head to bring him back to the fact he was still recording and quickly let go of the button as Simon snatched the phone from his hand. “Watch this,” Simon said as he stared down at his phone for a few moments. Jace tried to peek at what he was doing, but Simon turned away, holding his phone to his chest and glaring at Jace. 

“I already know what it’s gonna look like,” Jace lied with a pout. Simon chuckled and shook his head. 

“Sure, Jace,” Simon said sarcastically. He tapped a few buttons on his phone and Jace heard some techno music playing. Simon rolled his shoulders to the music, bumping into Jace’s every few beats. Jace sighed heavily and pressed his lips together, not quite knowing what to make of the feeling running through him. “Done!” Simon said smugly as he handed the phone to Jace. Jace rolled his eyes as he grabbed it and stared down at the screen. The music played more smoothly than it did while recording and Jace felt his eyes go wide at each jump. They aligned perfectly with the beat and Simon looked… Well… Simon looked  _ hot _ . And Jace found himself saying as much in his own backwards way. Simon just laughed and shoved at his shoulder as they watched the likes rise, a few thousand at a time. 

(And when Izzy decided to cosplay Rey with him side by side, Jace was not jealous. He really wasn’t. He  _ wasn’t _ .)

* * *

Jace needed a night away. He was getting closer to Simon every day, the stupid app being the cause and he didn’t know how to feel about it. He figured the best way to avoid having to think about Simon, was to just get out of the apartment he shared with Izzy. Simon seemed to be there more often than not, so it only made sense to leave for a night. Alec and Magnus were more than willing to have him. 

“You know, you can talk to me about whatever crisis you’re having,” Alec said as they raided together, Jace on the playstation he knew Simon would be angry he stole for the night and Alec on his desktop. It seemed like lately, Destiny had been the only thing to distract him from Simon, and it didn’t even do that good of a job considering Simon introduced him to the game. 

“I’m not having a crisis, Alec. I just needed a night away,” Jace explained as he shot blindly at whatever was injuring him. He shushed Alec when he tried to speak again, needing to focus on beating the boss to stop his brain from spinning the way it had been for weeks. 

“You’re playing like you’ve never raided before. That screams ‘crisis’ to me,” Alec judged casually. Jace threw his controller down as the screen turned blue and hovered over the ghost of his character, signalling his untimely death, and swore. Alec clicked out of the game and turned toward Jace in his desk chair, crossing his arms over his chest with a smug smile on his face. 

“I don’t want to talk about it, Alec.” His words seemed to have the tone of finality in them he had wanted as Alec sighed and got up, pulling Jace to the living room and shoving him on the couch. 

“Go to sleep. You look like you haven’t slept in weeks and you know how comfortable Magnus made the couch,” Alec said with a raise of his eyebrows. Jace sighed and nodded, smiling up at his brother. 

“It’s only a small crisis, nothing I can’t get through,” Jace reassured as he pulled the blanket on top of him. Alec chuckled as he walked away and Jace slept the best he had in weeks. He spent the following day with Alec, playing video games, binging on Netflix and eating too much pizza before finally walking back to his apartment. He took a deep breath before he unlocked it, hoping that Simon wasn’t there, but secretly wishing he was. He saw the balloons immediately, a few popping as he threw the door open. Upon further investigation, he realized that he could barely see the floor in favor of what had to be over a thousand colored balloons littering it. 

“You assholes!” Jace yelled as Izzy and Simon jumped out of the cluster, each of them holding their phones and laughing hysterically. Jace wanted to be angry, he really did, but hearing Simon’s laughter and seeing the pure joy in his face made it incredibly hard. 

“The golden boy has been  _ pranked _ !” Simon cheered as he held his phone up close to Jace. He tried to suppress his smile, but found it almost impossible with Simon that close to him. 

“Tell us how you’re feeling, brother,” Izzy said, her voice full of professionalism like she was in the middle of an interview. Jace flipped her off, causing another bout of laughter from the two, even more when he shoved Simon back, a balloon popping under his foot. 

“I’m feeling like our neighbors are going to pissed when I pop every single one of these,” Jace said, shooting a glare at Simon’s camera. His eyes glanced to Simon’s, crinkled and watering with laughter and felt his own laughter finally bubble over. 

(And Jace wouldn’t admit it, but he didn’t mind the balloons. In fact, he found every moment he could to rub one in Simon’s hair, his arm around his neck and Simon’s wrapped around his waist. Jace really didn’t mind the balloons.)

* * *

After that, they both insisted that Jace join in willingly. 

“The crowd loves you, big brother!” Izzy yelled as she pulled Jace in between her and Simon on their couch. Jace groaned and threw his head on the back of the couch, trying to ignore how closely Simon was pressed against him. He heard the now familiar click of the countdown and rolled his eyes even more dramatically before smiling at the camera as fake as he could. 

“Due to popular demand, we have finally gotten Jace to join in for…” Izzy paused and looked at Simon as they both leaned closer to the camera. Jace furrowed his eyebrows, feeling like he was missing something as they both shouted “best friend check” at the top of their lungs. 

“What is going on?” Jace asked as Simon stopped the video, hopefully to explain.

“Okay, so this audio is gonna ask us to ‘point to the friend who is’ a series of things,” Simon explained. Jace widened his eyes and gaped at him, still not fully understanding. Simon laughed and patted Jace’s back, his palm pressed firmly between his shoulder blades before moving down to the small of it. Jace felt a bit more ready for whatever he was supposed to do at the simple touch. 

“Ready?” Simon asked. Izzy nodded enthusiastically and Jace huffed, clearly not prepared as he never really was for these videos. Simon started the audio and Jace tried to keep up. He pointed at Simon as the friend who always makes him laugh, himself as the pain in the ass. Izzy was the obvious choice for the friend who always gets the guy and usually cries. They all stumbled over the friend who never answers their phone, since none of them ever really did. They erupted into giggles and missed the next one, Simon urging them to stay focused. 

“Point to the friend that is one of the bros,” the audio sang and Jace pointed at himself again, shrugging in acceptance as Izzy and Simon followed. Jace pushed at Izzy at the first to be proposed, everyone knowing that Clary was only a few small steps to caving and asking her, she blushed in response and pointed accusingly at Simon for the friend who would get a 100 on a test. Jace had to agree as Simon was the resident nerd after all. 

Jace thought they must have planned the last part, both of them diving off screen as the option for the friend that was the very best finished the audio. Jace grinned sheepishly, biting down on his lip as he shook his head at Simon. 

“You guys are such dorks,” Jace said, his voice so full of fondness, there was no way he could hide it. Izzy tackled him, pressing messy kisses on his cheeks and Jace couldn’t help but smile. 

(And if Jace didn’t know any better, he would have thought Simon looked just as enamoured. But he knew better.) 

* * *

Their friendship grew with every ludicrous video; every dumb dance move Jace and Izzy attempted to teach Simon, every prank they would pull, none of them knowing who the victim was as it was ever changing, every song Simon sung on his guitar, serenading Jace at the most inopportune times. Jace stopped caring if his time with Simon was for another video, just enjoying every moment he had with him. 

He still enjoyed his time for himself, though. His team had made it a lot further in the Destiny raid than he expected and they were about to beat the raid boss as he shouted into his headset. He was the last player standing, almost full health and the best chance at winning the game. The rest of the fireteam shouted moves back at him as he ducked and ran and shot. He was so focused, he barely heard Simon enter the room.

It wasn’t until Simon’s leg was thrown over his lap that he chanced a look away from the screen. Simon moved further onto his lap, leaning their chests together and nuzzling his face into Jace’s shoulder. His arms wrapped around Jace’s neck and Jace dropped his controller. He vaguely heard his raid buddies shouting at him as his health bar dwindled, but he didn’t care. He wrapped his arms around Simons’s waist and held him close. For a second, he thought he felt his heart stop as Simon hugged him even closer. 

There was a collective groan in his headset as  _ The Darkness Has Consumed You _ flashed across his screen. He couldn’t bring himself to care about the darkness as all he felt was light with Simon in his arms. After a few moments of silence, only the sound of their soft breathing filling the air, Jace pressed his lips to Simon’s ear. 

“Is this for one of your videos?” Jace asked, silently hoping that it might have been more. 

Simon took a deep breath and sighed, pushing his face further into Jace’s neck. “It was. I mean, it is, but you’re a lot comfier than I thought you’d be.” Simon mumbled into his skin as he spoke and Jace wondered if Simon had any idea what he was doing to him. He went to stand and in a moment of desperation, Jace wrapped his arms a little tighter and breathed him in. 

“No, stay,” Jace practically pleaded. Simon stilled, barely noticeably, but nodded into Jace’s neck, his breath ghosting across his skin. Jace reached for the extra controller and navigated to Netflix with his chin tucked over Simon’s shoulder, and played a few reruns of Bob’s Burgers until Izzy interrupted them some time later. 

(And Jace would deny how much time he spent missing Simon’s warmth after he left to go record with Izzy. Instead, he scrolled through Simon’s page, hesitating over the heart with every flick of his thumb.)

* * *

Jace tried not to feel broken as he scrolled through the newest trending videos. It felt like the app was taunting him with each video he watched of someone kissing their best friend, recording their reaction. He knew it was risky and figured half of the videos were staged anyway, but it still hurt, knowing he was just as pathetic as so many others on this godforsaken app. To make matters even worse, Simon had asked for his help on a surprise video for Izzy. 

“There’s a new challenge going around,” Simon said as bubbly as ever as he sauntered into Jace’s room, making himself at home as he laid down on Jace’s bed. Jace felt himself freeze and it took everything in him not to turn around in his chair to read Simon’s face. 

“There’s always a new challenge, Simon. You have to be more specific,” Jace said, trying to hide the twinge of nervousness in his voice. When Simon said nothing, he turned, resting his elbows on his knees. “What’s the challenge?” Jace asked more directly. 

“It’s the ‘kiss your best friend’ challenge,” Simon said quickly, the words running into each other like Simon was afraid to say it. Jace cocked an eyebrow, pretending like the words didn’t through his heart. 

“And what do you need me to do?” Jace asked slowly, truly hoping it was something he could say no to, but knowing that it would be impossible to say no to Simon, he couldn’t. 

“I figured if there were three people, my best friend would just think it’s a normal video. So, Izzy’s waiting in the living room,” Simon explained. Jace could hear his anxiety increasing with every word and sighed as he stood up. He grabbed Simon’s hand and led him out to the living room where the camera was already on the too expensive stand Jace had gotten each of them for Christmas. 

“So, what lame dance are we teaching Simon this time,” Jace asked, feigning informality, like his world wasn’t about to drop out from underneath him. 

“It’s easy, this time,” Izzy said with a wide grin. Jace pushed Simon next to Izzy on the couch, unsure as to why he was setting this up so perfectly for the two of them. Izzy showed them the video and Jace couldn’t help but roll his eyes. When it was over, he pushed himself off of the couch and shook his head. 

“Even Simon could figure this out on his own, why don’t I just--” Before he could finish, Simon’s hand was in his, stopping him from moving further. He was almost angry that he recognized the feeling so immediately. He went to turn around, ready to tell them he just wasn’t in the mood, that he couldn’t do this. He couldn’t watch the two most important people in his world start their life together, not when…

He tried to tug at his arm again, turning on his toes when Simon wouldn’t let go. The last thing he expected was to find Simon’s lips crashing against his own. His eyes widened and he felt his brain scramble, unable to put it together long enough to kiss Simon back. Simon pulled back just as quickly as he had kissed him and Jace stared at him open mouthed. 

“What?” Jace asked, not sure he could form any other words. He shook his head. He didn’t much care for the answer and he wasn’t about to wait for a response. Instead, he tugged Simon closer by his hips and kissed him again. Simon’s arms wrapped around his neck and Jace felt him smile and it lit something inside of him. He wrapped his arms tighter, pulling Simon flush against him and pouring everything he was feeling into the kiss. He didn’t care that the camera was on them or that Izzy was squealing in the distance. All he cared about was that he was Simon’s best friend, his best friend had just  _ kissed _ him, and that he wasn’t going to  _ stop _ kissing Simon for the rest of his life. 

(And if Jace watched the video Simon created over and over and  _ over _ again, no one else needed to know. Well, except Simon, who might have smacked Jace pretty hard over the fact he had an account the entire time.) 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think on [Tumblr](https://archeryandeyeliner.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thatnerdemilyj/)!
> 
> If your looking to scream about Malec and don't know where to go, come join a super fun [Discord](https://discord.gg/8Q8yBVg)!
> 
> Kudos make me smile and comments make me weep, so please leave them!


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